Trousers-supporter



L. wooos. TROUSERS SUPPORTER.

- APPLICATION FILED AUG-9| l9l9.

1 ,392,241 i PatentedSept. 27, 1921.

PATENT OFFICE.

LEONARD WOODS, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI.

TROUSERS-SUPPORTER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Sept. 27, 1921.

Application filed August 9, 1919. Serial No. 316,393.

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, LEONARD lVoons, a citizen of the United States,residing at St. Louis, State of Missouri, have invented certain new anduseful Improvements in Trousers-Supporters, of which the following i aspecification.

This invention relates to certain new and useful improvements introusers supporters, the peculiarities of which will be hereinafterdescribed and claimed.

The main object of my invention is to provide means to mount detachablythe lower end of a trousers-supporting plate on a fold or tongue of theshirt of the wearer so as to engage said fold or tongue at the lowerfront side of the plate, and thereby exert a leverage grip on the tipend of the fold or tongue at the back side of the plate above said lowerend, and correspondingly increase the effect by the downward tendency ofth plateunder the downward pull of the trousers carried by the upperendof said plate; another object is the change of said means with regardto the plate, so as to allow the, front of the plate to serve as theback, and thus change the plate for use on. the right side of thewearer, or vice versa. 1 1

The style of trousers supporter is one that is interposed between theshirt and the up per part of the trousers, and is adapted to engage thetrousers band at the top of the supporter, and also to engage the shirtof the wearer at the bottomof the supporter, and thereby carry theweight of the trousers on the shirt. A device of this kind is generallymounted opposite the hip of the wearer at each side and sometimes alsoin front, whereby the trousers are supported at three points. r

In the accompanying drawing on which like reference letters indicatecorresponding.

parts Figure 1 represents a perspective view of the upper part of a pairof trousers, viewed from the rlght side, and with a portion of the rightside of the trousers broken away to show the adjacent supporter; Fig. 2

a detailed view of my device as used on the left side-and viewed fromthe front with a portion of the shirt engaged thereby: Fig.

3a similar edge view: Fig. 4r a similar view.

seen from the inside-or back of the device: Fig. 5 an-edgeview of thedevice showing the method of inser g a fo d or t g e of the shirt intothe gripping means at the lower end of the supporter: Fig. 6 a similarview to Fig. 3 showing the gripping means operating on the reverse sidesof the plate respectively: and Fig. 7 a partial view of the lowerend ofthe supporter showing the method of applying the gripping means to thelower end of the plate. v

The letter A designates the body of a trousers supporter preferablyformed :of-

aluminum plate, and having the upper end extended horizontally andprovided. with a slot or other means for engaging two but tons on theinside of the trousers band for attachment to the upper end of thesupporter. The lower or bottom end of the body is provided with lateralextensions B-B. A lever frame, preferably rectangular incloses said bodyabove theprojections B, and preferably consists of parallel bars CCconnected by end bars D-D, preferably curved as shown in Fig. 3. Theconnecting bars D serve as levers for the parallel bars, and areslidingly mounted on said projecting shoulders 13-13. The parallel barsare thus mounted on opposite sides of the plate body, and the bar C,Fig. 3, is adapted to lie close to the back of the plate andcomparatively near to the fulcrum point of support, when the oppositebar 0 lies in front of and preferably adjacent to the under the bottomend of the plate and up the b ack of the plate so that the up liesbetween the plate and thebarC as indicated in Fig; 5. A downwardpressure of the plate will bring the bar C downward and 'backward andpreferably adjacent to the lower front edge of the plate as shown inFig. 3, and thus grip the tip endof the fold or tongue between the bar Cand the back of the plate with an'increased grips ping efiect due to theleverage of said frame, as indicated in Figs. 3and 4. The bar C thatreceives the first pull of the tongue of the shirt preferably lies closeto the plate and below adjacent to the lower edge, in

order to grip the interposed fold or tongue as indicated in Flg. 3, butthe bar 0 may be otherwise, p s tioned and still efiecta leyerage gripupon the fold or tongue by the bar G.

Since the lever frame is loosely or slidingly mounted, in its preferredform, on th shoulders BB, the frame may be slid backward so as to bringthe bar C from the lower position shown in Fig. 3 to the upper positionshown in Fig. 6, and likewise bring the bar C to the lower positionadjacent to the lower end of the plate: but the bars thus change theirfunction and the bar C, Fig. 6, is brought closer to the fulcrum thanthe bar C 1n the same figure, and thus the bar 0 becomes capable ofexerting the increased grip on the tip of the fold or tongue which waspreviously exerted by the bar C Fig. 3.

That is to say, by shifting the lever frame the function of the bars isreversed, and the front of the plate becomes the back and the backbecomes the. front, so that the supporter is adapted to be worn ateither the right or the left side of the wearer by changing the leverframe asv just described. In Fig. 7, one of the projecting shoulders Bis shown bent inward or toward each other so as to reduce the spread ofthe shoulders from the normal distance shown in Figs. 2 and 4, and thusallow the lever frame to be slipped over the other projection B and passthe bent up projection to embrace the body of the supporter: the bent upshoulder is then bent back to the normal position as indicated by dottedline Fig. 7 and will maintain the lever frame in the proper position.Any. means by 'which the normal spread of the projecting shoulders is reduced, such as by springing them closer together to allow slipping theminto the lever frame, the length of which is less than the normal spreadof the shoulders,may be employed. The frame is thus loosely mounted toinclose the body of the plate, and allow of fulcrumingon the shouldersto exert the leverage pressure on the interposed tip of the fold ortongue of the shirt, as above described. v

The folded tip of the wearers shirt is the i only part of the dress thatis engaged with the cross bars CC of the clampingdevice at the base ofthe body plate. That is to say, one of the engaged portions of thewearers dress is engaged with both of the cross bars mentioned and thepull of the folded tip, due to the weight of the trousers supported atthe top of the body, operates in one direction only upon the looselymounted lever device or frame herein shown. I

The body being flat at the bottom edge or portion makes it desirablethat the sides of the lever frame be curved as shown in the drawing, sothat the lower cross bar may come to operative position close to thebottom edge of the body plate as shown in Figs. 8 and 6. On account ofthe symmetrical shape of the" lever frame, either cross bar may take itsoperative position close to the bottom edge of the body plate, accordingto which side of the device is to be turned outward.

The'tcp of said body A extending upward is widened laterally as shown inFigs. 2 and 1-. One extension preferably to the front being longer thanthe other, and provided with a horizontal slot extending across bothextensions and reduced at the ends at E and F so, as to engage the necksof buttons secured to the inside of the waist band of trousers as shownin Fig. 1. The said slot is widenedvertically at G intermediate ofthe'ends of the slot so that the head of the buttons may slipped intothe slot and directed horizontally to the respective ends E and F forengagement thereby. The upper end of'the supporter therefore consists ofa horizontal bar H connecting and stiflening the lateral extending endsof the top. The button that is engaged by the end F of the said slot ispreferably located about at the vertical side seam of the trousers, andthe end E therefore extends forward to the button located in front ofsaid seam of the trousers. 7

If desired, the supporters may be reversed so that. the forward buttonis substantially on the side seamof the trousers and the other button isthe length of the slot (about two and a he finches) to the rear of theside seam. The idea is to cause the supporter to lie against the pelvisin such a position that it will be unaffected by body movements. Thepreferred location of the buttons on the trousers band and therefore thelocation of the supporters as shown in Fig. 1, or reversely located asjust described, will depend upon the girth of the individual.

Iclaim:

1. A device of the character described comprising a plate body havinglaterally projecting shoulders, and a slidable rectangular frame havingcross bars extending in front and behind said body, and connectingcurved side lever bars adjustably fulcrumed on said shoulders,the frontbar adapted to be engaged by a folded tongue of the shirt, and the backbar to grip the tip of the tongue between the body and the back barwhich is otherwise unconnected to the shirt, substantially as described.I A device of the character described comprising a plate, body havinglaterally projecting shoulders near the bottom end, and a rectangularlever frame having parallel cross bars on opposite sides of said bodyand connecting curved lever bars ad justably fulcrumed on said shouldersso as to locate one'bar adjacent to the bottom end of thebody and slideit toward and away from said bottom end and the otherbar ad-. justablymounted above the shoulders on the back side of the body, and slidableto and y from said shoulders, the slidable mounting of the frame on saidshoulders allowing of either cross bar being used with the bottom end ofthe body for reversing the device, substantially as described.

3. YA device of the character described comprising a plate body havinglaterally projecting shoulders near the bottom end, and a looselymounted rectangular lever frame composed of cross bars and side barssurrounding said body, the side bars being slidingly mounted on saidshoulders as fulcrums, and adapted to be shifted so that either crossbar will be close to the shoulders and the other cross bar will be closeto the bottom end to change the maximum grip fromone side of said bodyto the other, and

allow reversing the body, substantially as described.

4. A device of the character described comprising a body having alaterally widened top provided with a button-engaging slot adapted tocarry the trousers at the top, and having a lever device, having twoarms engaged by the shirt only,-the longer arm being mounted at thebottom edge of the body and clamping an interposed fold of the wearersshirt by the upward pull of said interposed fold due to the downward ushof the said body under the weight 0 the trousers engaged at the topslot.

In testimony whereof I have affixed my signature.

LEONARD WOODS.

